Methods for paid placement of promotional e-mail messages

ABSTRACT

A method includes accessing, by a server computer, a plurality of electronic mail messages. The method also includes identifying, by the server computer, at least one of the electronic mail messages as a promoted electronic mail message. The method further includes outputting, for display at a client computing device, an electronic mail interface wherein the promoted electronic mail message is represented in a first position of a display order and a remainder of the electronic mail messages are represented subsequent to the promoted electronic mail message in the display order.

REFERENCE TO CROSS RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of, and claims priority to, pendingU.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/959,863 filed Aug. 6, 2013, entitled“Methods for Paid Placement of Promotional E-Mail Messages”, Thedisclosure of the foregoing application is incorporated herein byreference.

BACKGROUND

The disclosure herein relates generally to electronic mail (e-mail)services that cause an interface representing a list of e-mail messagesto be output for display at a client computing device.

Some software applications are provided to users free-of-charge, andgenerate revenue by displaying advertisements to users of the softwareapplication. A common example is a web-based e-mail application thatprovides e-mail services to users by way of an interface that isdisplayed in a web-browser or in a dedicated application, such as an“app” that is executed on a mobile computing device, such as a tabletcomputing device or a smart-phone (a computationally-enabled mobiletelephone). These advertisements allow advertisers to reach the usersthat are selected based on demographic information or contextualinformation, and often utilized to reach users with respect to whom theadvertiser has had no prior contact. These advertisements are typicallyplaced in the software application on the basis of a payment, eitherdirectly or indirectly, from the advertiser to the operator of theweb-based e-mail application.

Promotional e-mail messages are another common form of internetadvertising. Typically, an advertiser that wishes to conduct an e-mailmarketing campaign generates a list of e-mail addresses for existing orprospective customers, and generates and sends a promotional e-mailmessage to each of those existing or prospective customers. Thus,promotional e-mail messages allow advertisers to reach persons withrespect to whom the advertiser has had prior contact. As opposed toadvertisements that are displayed with software applications,promotional e-mail messages are delivered to users to whom the e-mailmessage is addressed, without payment to an operator of a web-basede-mail application.

Promotional e-mail messages typically have a low rate of effectiveness.Because most persons receive a very large number of promotional e-mailmessages, many are deleted without being read, or are simply ignored.E-mail marketing remains popular, however, because the costs associatedwith an e-mail marketing campaign are low relative to the benefit to begained at even low rates of effectiveness.

SUMMARY

The disclosure relates to paid placement of promotional e-mail messages.

One aspect of the disclosed embodiments is a method that includesaccessing, by a server computer, a plurality of electronic mailmessages; identifying, by the server computer, at least one of theelectronic mail messages as a promoted electronic mail message; andoutputting, for display at a client computing device, an electronic mailinterface wherein the promoted electronic mail message is represented ina first position of a display order and a remainder of the electronicmail messages are represented subsequent to the promoted electronic mailmessage in the display order.

Another aspect of the disclosed embodiments is a method that includesaccessing, by a server computer, a plurality of electronic mailmessages; identifying, by the server computer, at least one of theelectronic mail messages as a promoted electronic mail message; andoutputting, for display at a client computing device, an electronic mailinterface that includes an advertisement area and a message index area,wherein the promoted electronic mail message is represented in theadvertisement area and a remainder of the electronic mail messages arerepresented in the message index area.

Another aspect of the disclosed embodiments is a method that includesaccessing, by a server computer, a plurality of electronic mailmessages; identifying, by the server computer, at least one of theelectronic mail messages as a promoted electronic mail message; andoutputting, for display at a client computing device, an electronic mailinterface that includes an advertisement corresponding to the promotedelectronic mail message and a grouping of interface elements eachcorresponding to a respective electronic mail message from the pluralityof electronic mail messages.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The description herein makes reference to the accompanying drawingswherein like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout theseveral views, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a system for paidplacement of promotional e-mail messages;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a host computer;

FIG. 3 is an illustration showing an example of generation of an e-mailinterface;

FIG. 4 is an example of an electronic mail interface screen;

FIG. 5 is an example of an electronic mail interface screen with paidplacement of promotional e-mail messages according to a first example;

FIG. 6 is an example of an electronic mail interface screen with paidplacement of promotional e-mail messages according to a second example;

FIG. 7 is an example of an electronic mail interface screen with paidplacement of promotional e-mail messages according to a third example;

FIG. 8 is an example of an electronic mail interface screen with paidplacement of promotional e-mail messages according to a fourth example;and

FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing an example of a process for paidplacement of promotional e-mail messages.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Methods for paid placement of promotional e-mail messages are disclosedherein. Because recipients of promotional e-mail messages often receivea large number of e-mail messages, many promotional e-mail messages arenot opened or read by the recipient. The systems and methods disclosedherein allow the provider of an e-mail application, such as a web-basede-mail application, to provide paid placement opportunities to sendersof promotional e-mails. Thus, although a promotional e-mail is sent toits recipient in a standard manner, such as by sending a message to ane-mail address via the SMTP protocol, the provider of the e-mailapplication can identify the promotional e-mail message as beingassociated with a paid advertising campaign, and output an e-mailinterface in which the promotional e-mail message is displayeddifferently than other, non-promoted e-mail messages, such as byapplying a preferential sort order to promoted e-mail message, applyinga distinct visual style to the promoted e-mail message, or by displayinginformation corresponding to the promoted e-mail message in a dedicatedadvertising area.

FIG. 1 shows an example of an environment 100 in which a system for paidplacement of e-mail messages can be implemented. The environment 100 caninclude a user system 110, an advertiser system 120, and an e-mailservice 130. The user system 110 and the advertiser system 120 are eachrepresentative of a large number (e.g. millions) of user systems andadvertiser systems that can be included in the environment 100. The usersystem 110 and the advertiser systems 120 can each be any manner ofcomputer or computing device, such as a desktop computer, a laptopcomputer, a tablet computer, or a smart-phone (a computationally-enabledmobile telephone). The e-mail service 130 can be implemented using oneor more server computers 140. The user system 110, the advertisersystems 120, and the e-mail service 130 can each be implemented as asingle system, multiple systems, distributed systems, or in any otherform.

The systems, services, servers, and other computing devices describedherein are in communication via a network 150. The network 150 can beone or more communications networks of any suitable type in anycombination, including wireless networks, wired networks, local areanetworks, wide area networks, cellular data networks, and the internet.

The e-mail service 130 provides an e-mail service to the user system110. The description herein will be made with respect to a web-basede-mail service in that provides a web-browser-based interface forviewing mailboxes and e-mail messages. It should be understood, however,that the e-mail service can be provided in many other forms, such as inthe form of an “app” that is executed by a tablet computer or asmart-phone, or in the form of desktop software that is executed by apersonal computer.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example of a hardware configuration forthe one or more server computers 140. The same hardware configuration ora similar hardware configuration can be used to implement the usersystem 110 and the advertiser systems 120. Each server computer 140 caninclude a CPU 210. The CPU 210 can be conventional central processingunits. Alternatively, the CPU 210 can be any other type of device, ormultiple devices, capable of manipulating or processing informationnow-existing or hereafter developed. Although the disclosed examples canbe practiced with a single processor as shown, e.g. CPU 210, advantagesin speed and efficiency can be achieved using more than one processor.

Each server computer 140 can include memory 220, such as a random accessmemory device (RAM). Any other suitable type of storage device can beused as the memory 220. The memory 220 can include code and data 222that can be accessed by the CPU 210 using a bus 230. The memory 220 canfurther include one or more application programs 224 and an operatingsystem 226. The application programs 224 can include software componentsin the form of computer executable program instructions that cause theCPU 210 to perform the operations and methods described herein.

A storage device 240 can be optionally provided in the form of anysuitable computer readable medium, such as a hard disc drive, a memorydevice, a flash drive or an optical drive. One or more input devices250, such as a keyboard, a mouse, or a gesture sensitive input device,receive user inputs and can output signals or data indicative of theuser inputs to the CPU 210. One or more output devices can be provided,such as a display device 260. The display device 260, such as liquidcrystal display (LCD) or a cathode-ray tube (CRT), allows output to bepresented to a user, for example, in response to receiving a videosignal.

Although FIG. 1 depicts the CPU 210 and the memory 220 of each servercomputer 140 as being integrated into a single unit, otherconfigurations can be utilized. The operations of the CPU 210 can bedistributed across multiple machines (each machine having one or more ofprocessors) which can be coupled directly or across a local area orother network. The memory 220 can be distributed across multiplemachines such as network-based memory or memory in multiple machines.Although depicted here as a single bus, the bus 230 of each of eachserver computer 140 can be composed of multiple buses. Further, thestorage device 240 can be directly coupled to the other components ofthe respective one of the server computers 140 or can be accessed via anetwork and can comprise a single integrated unit such as a memory cardor multiple units such as multiple memory cards. The one or more servercomputers can thus be implemented in a wide variety of configurations.

FIG. 3 is an illustration showing an example of generation of an e-mailinterface 300 by the one or more server computers 140 of the e-mailservice 130. The e-mail interface 300 can be generated in response to arequest that is received at the e-mail service 130. For example, thee-mail interface 300 can be generated in response to a request that isreceived from the user system 110. The e-mail interface 300 can includea message index area 302 and an advertisement area 304, as will beexplained herein. The e-mail interface 300 can be generated by thee-mail service 130 in the form of information that, when interpreted bythe user system 110, causes the e-mail interface 300 to be output fordisplay at the user system 110, such as in the context of a web browseror an application.

The request for the e-mail interface 300 that is received from the usersystem 110 can relate to a specific user account and/or SMTP e-mailaddress. In response to the request, the e-mail service 130 accessese-mail messages 310 that are associated with the user account and/orSMTP e-mail address, and which were each sent to a recipient designatedby an e-mail address, such as an SMTP e-mail address, and were receivedat the e-mail service 130 as a result of being sent to the e-mailaddress. The e-mail messages 310 can be accessed from, for example, amessage database 312 that is implemented by the one or more servercomputers 140 of the e-mail service 130.

The e-mail messages 310 are analyzed by an identification component 320.The identification component 320 can be implemented in the form ofsoftware that is executed by the one or more server computers 140 of thee-mail service 130. The identification component 320 analyzes each ofthe e-mail messages 310 to determine whether any of the e-mail messages310 include identifying information that designates the respectivee-mail message 310 as a promoted e-mail message. As used herein,“promoted e-mail message” refers to an e-mail message that is associatedwith a promotional campaign that is implemented by the e-mail service130, such as a paid advertising campaign in which a fee is charged tothe operator of the advertising system 120 responsible for sending thepromoted electronic mail message by the operator of the e-mail service130. The identifying information can be any type of data that isassociated with the respective e-mail message 310, such as analphanumeric identifier included in the body, subject, header, and/orother portion of the e-mail message 310. As one example, where thee-mail message 310 is encoded in the markup language such as HTML, theidentifying information can be present in a non-rendered portion of themessage, such as a comment, a metatag, or a script. The foregoing typesof identifying information are given as examples, and other types ofidentifying information can be utilized.

Based on the identifying information that is extracted from the e-mailmessages 310 by the identification component 320, a promoted e-mailmessage can be matched to a pre-existing paid advertising campaign usingcampaign information 330 associated with each of a plurality ofrespective advertising campaigns. The campaign information 330 can bestored in and accessed from a campaign database 332 that is implementedby the one or more server computers 140 of the e-mail service 130. Thecampaign information 330 can be utilized in generation of the e-mailinterface 300 in conjunction with the promoted e-mail message itself. Inaddition, the campaign information 330 can specify the identity of theoperator of the advertising system 120 that sent the promoted e-mailmessage or caused the promoted e-mail message to be sent.

In some implementations, the campaign information 330 for each paidadvertising campaign can include a list of email addresses that isprovided to the e-mail service 130 by the sponsor of the paidadvertising campaign. The list of email addresses can correspond tousers of the e-mail service 130, and be used as a basis for determiningwhether or not to cause a specific e-mail message 310 to be displayed asa promoted e-mail message. In one example, the list of e-mail addressescan be used as a basis for triggering promotion of an e-mail message,where the e-mail message is promoted if the message recipient's emailaddress is included in the list of e-mail addresses. In another example,the list of e-mail addresses can be used as a basis for varying theterms by which the e-mail message can be promoted, for example, byincreasing a bid amount that the sponsor of the message is willing topay for promotion of the e-mail message in an auction-based promotionsystem if the message recipient's email address is included in the listof e-mail addresses. In another example, the list of e-mail addressescan be used as a basis for preventing promotion of an e-mail message,where the e-mail message is will not be promoted if the messagerecipient's email address is included in the list of e-mail addresses.

In some implementations, a paid advertising campaign can be created bythe party associated with the advertising system 120 after the e-mailmessages 310 are sent to the users of the e-mail service 130. In thisimplementation, the sender provides information that allowsidentification the e-mail messages 310 to be promoted, and forauction-based systems, specifies payment terms such as a budget and,optionally, a bid amount for each view or open of the e-mail messages310 that correspond to the paid advertising campaign.

An interface generator component 340 is operable to generate the e-mailinterface 300. The interface generator component 340 can receive thee-mail messages 310 from the message database 312, the campaigninformation 330 from the campaign database 332, and informationidentifying one or more of the e-mail messages 310 as promoted e-mailmessages from the identification component 320.

In some situations, the identification component 320 may determine thatmultiple ones of the e-mail messages 310 are promoted e-mail messages,and the interface generator component 340 will select a subset of one ormore of the promoted e-mail messages that were identified by theidentification component 320 for use as the promoted e-mail messages inthe e-mail interface 300. The identified e-mail messages 310 that arenot selected by the interface generator component 340 will be treated asstandard e-mail messages 310, wherein standard e-mail messages are thosee-mail messages that are given the same visual style within the e-mailinterface 300 with respect to one another and are not given apreferential placement or graphical style within the e-mail interface300.

In one implementation, the interface generator component selects asubset of one or more of the promoted e-mail messages that wereidentified by the identification component 320 for use as the promotede-mail messages in the e-mail interface 300 using an auction-typesystem. In a simple example, the senders associated with the promotede-mail messages can each designate a budget for the paid advertisingcampaign, and the advertising system 130 will set the conditions underwhich the e-mail messages 310 will be promoted in a manner thatmaximizes the return on investment for each sender. In another example,the senders associated with the promoted e-mail messages can eachdesignate a price that they are willing to pay for promotion of theirmessage, one or more of the highest bids will be accepted, and thosee-mail messages will be promoted. In another example, the sendersassociated with the promoted e-mail messages are only charged forpromotion of their e-mail messages if the message is opened, and anauction based system is applied that ranks the e-mail messages based onthe price that the sender is willing to pay, as well as a probabilitythat the e-mail message will be opened to determine which e-mailmessages will be displayed as promoted e-mail messages in the e-mailinterface 300. When two or more e-mail messages are selected as thepromoted e-mail messages, they can be ranked, such as by the auctionsystems described above, and ordered according to their rankings. Thee-mail messages that are not selected as promoted e-mail messages aredisplayed among the standard e-mail messages.

The interface generator component 340 can generate the e-mail interface300 such that the standard e-mail messages from the plurality of e-mailmessages 310 are represented within a message index area 302. Themessage index area can be a view with interface elements correspondingto each of the e-mail messages 310 represented therein, wherein a userinterface action such as clicking, tapping, or otherwise selecting, canbe applied to the interface elements representing the e-mail messages310 to display each of the e-mail messages 310. In one example, themessage index area is a list view, where each of the standard e-mailmessages from the plurality of e-mail messages 310 is represented by astandard list view item, which is an interface element that representsone of the e-mail messages and can be actuated (clicked, etc.) to causedisplay of additional information, such as the contents of the e-mailmessage 310.

In some implementations, the promoted e-mail messages from the pluralityof e-mail messages are represented by user interface items within themessage index area and are differentiated from the user interfaceelements that designate the standard e-mail messages from the pluralityof e-mail messages 310. For example, the user interface elementsrepresenting the standard e-mail messages can be subject to a displayorder rule, such as a rule that sorts the e-mail messages 310 based oncriteria associated with the e-mail messages 310. One example is achronological rule, whereby the e-mail messages 310 are sorted by dateof transmission for receipt. In this example, the promoted e-mailmessages can be differentiated from the standard e-mail messages byplacing the promoted e-mail messages at the front of a display orderwithout subjecting the promoted e-mail messages to the display orderrule. Thus, for example, a promoted e-mail message could occupy a firstposition in the display order, while standard e-mail messages appearafter the promoted e-mail message in the display order, undercircumstances where the promoted e-mail message would not appear firstin the display order if it were subject to the display order rule.

As another example, the promoted e-mail messages can be represented byuser interface elements that appear within the message index area 302but can be differentiated by a distinct graphical style. Thus, a firstgraphical style would be applied to the promoted e-mail messages while asecond graphical style would be promoted to the standard e-mailmessages, where the first graphical style differs from the secondgraphical style by virtue of one or more of color, size, outline, typeface, or another graphical characteristic. In another example, thepromoted e-mail messages are not represented within the message indexarea 302 but are instead represented in a dedicated advertisement area304. In this example, the promoted e-mail messages are given a differentgraphical style as compared to the standard e-mail messages.

FIG. 4 shows an example of an e-mail interface screen 400. The e-mailinterface screen 400 is displayed in the context of a web browser andcan be, for example, a webpage encoded in a markup language such as HTMLthat is transmitted from the e-mail service 130 to the user system 110and output for display at the user system 110.

The e-mail interface screen 400 includes a message index area 402 in theform of a list view that includes a plurality of standard list items404. The standard list items 404 each correspond to an e-mail messageand include information regarding the e-mail message, such as anidentity of a sender of the e-mail message, a subject of the e-mailmessage, and a date or time of receipt of the e-mail message. Each ofthe standard list items can be interactive, such that clicking orotherwise activating each of the standard list items 404 causes displayof the e-mail message that is associated with the respective standardlist items 404. In the e-mail interface screen 400, none of the e-mailmessages represented within the message index area 402 are givenpreferential treatment, such as a preferred position in the displayorder or a distinct graphical style. Instead, each of the standard listitems 404 is sorted according to a chronological display order rule andis portrayed in a consistent graphical style.

FIG. 5 is an example of an electronic mail interface screen 500 thatincorporates paid placement of promotional e-mail messages according toa first example. The e-mail interface screen 500 includes a messageindex area 502 in the form of a list view. A promoted list item 504,which corresponds to a promoted e-mail message, occupies a firstposition in a display order within the list view of the message indexarea 502. The promoted list item 504 appears above a plurality ofstandard list items 506, such that the promoted list item 504 appearsbefore the standard list items 506 in a display order. The standard listitems 506 each correspond to an electronic mail message that is not apromoted electronic mail message. The standard list items 506 aredisplayed in an order determined by a display order rule, which, in thiscase, is a chronological display order. The promoted list item 504appears vertically above and before the standard list items 506 in thedisplay order because it is not subject to the display order rule, asare the standard list items 506. In this example, the promoted list item504 and the standard list items 506 all have a common graphical style.

FIG. 6 shows an example of an electronic mail interface screen 600 withpaid placement of promotional e-mail messages according to a secondexample. The e-mail interface screen 600 includes a message index area602 in the form of a list view that includes a promoted list item 604and a plurality of standard list items 606. The promoted electronic mailmessage is represented by the promoted list item 604. In this example,the promoted list item 604 is not subject to a display order rule thatis applied to the standard list items 606, which in this example is achronological display order rule. Instead, the promoted list item 604 isdisplay above the standard list items 606. In addition, the promotedlist item 604 has a different graphical style as compared to thestandard list items 606, by virtue of, for example, size, inclusion of aborder, different font sizes, styles, text color, background color,supplemental text messages, and/or layout. Other differences ingraphical style can be utilized to differentiate the promoted list item604 from the standard list items 606.

FIG. 7 shows an example of an electronic mail interface screen 700 withpaid placement of promotional e-mail messages according to a thirdexample. The e-mail interface screen 700 includes a message index area702 in the form of a list view that includes a promoted list item 704and a plurality of standard list items 706. In this example, thepromoted list item is subject to the same display order rule as thestandard list items 706, which in this example is a chronologicaldisplay order rule. To differentiate the promoted list item 704 from thestandard list items 706, the promoted list item 704 has a differentgraphical style as compared to the standard list items 706, by virtueof, for example, size, inclusion of a border, different font sizes,styles, text color, background color, supplemental text messages, and/orlayout.

FIG. 8 shows an example of an electronic mail interface screen 800 withpaid placement of promotional e-mail messages according to a fourthexample. The e-mail interface screen 800 includes a message index area802 in the form of a list view that includes a plurality of standardlist items. The e-mail interface screen 800 also includes anadvertisement area 804 that is separate from the message index area 802.The advertisement area 804 can be positioned, above, below, or to alateral side of the message index area 802. In the illustrated example,the advertisement area is positioned at the right-hand side of themessage index area 802. To further differentiate the advertisement area804 from the message index area 802, the advertisement area 804 has adifferent graphical style as compared to the message index area, byvirtue of, for example, size, inclusion of a border, different fontsizes, styles, text color, background color, supplemental text messages,and/or layout.

In each of the examples shown in FIGS. 5-8, a single promoted electronicmail message is represented. It should be understood, however, thatmultiple promoted electronic mail messages could be represented bypromoted list view items or advertisement areas.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing a process 900 for paid placement ofe-mail messages.

The operations described in connection with the process 900 can beperformed at one or more computers, such as at the one or more servercomputers 140 of the e-mail service 130. When an operation is performedby one or more computers, it is completed when it is performed by onecomputer. The operations described in connection with the process 900can be embodied as a non-transitory computer readable storage mediumincluding program instructions executable by one or more processorsthat, when executed, cause the one or more processors to perform theoperations. For example, the operations described in connection with theprocess 900 could be stored at the memory 220 of a respective one of theserver computers 140 and be executable by the CPU 210 thereof.

At operation 910, a plurality of electronic mail messages are accessed.Operation 910 can be performed at a server computer, such as at the oneor more server computers 140 of the e-mail service 130. For example, theelectronic mail messages 310 can be accessed by the one or more servercomputers 140 of the e-mail service 130 from the message database 312.

At operation 920, identifying information is extracted from one or moreof the electronic mail messages that were accessed at operation 910. Inparticular, each electronic mail messages that is accessed at operation910 can be analyzed to determine whether it contains identifyinginformation, and if so, the identifying information is extracted. Thiscan be performed, for example, in the manner described in connectionwith the identification component 320.

At operation 930, the identifying information that was extracted atoperation 920 is matched to campaign information, such as informationthat relates to a paid advertising campaign. For example, theidentifying information from the e-mail messages 310 can be matchedagainst campaign information 330 from the campaign database 332 asdescribed in connection with the identification component 320.

At operation 940, promoted electronic mail messages are selected. Inparticular, some or all of the electronic mail messages accessed atoperation 910 that include identifying information that was extracted atoperation 920 and matched to campaign information at operation 930 canbe selected as promoted electronic mail messages. In someimplementations, a maximum number of these messages are selected aspromoted electronic mail messages using any suitable criteria, forexample, in the manner described in connection with the interfacegenerator component 940.

At operation 950, an electronic mail interface is generated and outputfor display, for example, as described in connection with the electronicmail interface 300 generated by the interface generator component 340.The electronic mail interface differentiates the promoted electronicmail messages from standard (non-promoted) electronic mail messages byfeatures such as position and graphical style. As examples, the promotedelectronic mail messages can be differentiated from standard electronicmail messages as described in connection with the electronic mailinterface 300 or the examples described with reference to FIGS. 5-8. Theelectronic mail interface can be output for display, for example, at theuser system 110, by transmission of information from the electronic mailservice 130 to the user system 120 that, when interpreted at the usersystem 110, causes display of the electronic mail interface.

At operation 960, the provider of the electronic mail interface chargesa fee to the third parties that sent the promoted electronic mailmessages, such as the parties associated with the advertiser systems120. In some implementations, the fee is charged based on display of thepromoted e-mail message. In other implementations, the fee is charged ifthe promoted e-mail message is opened.

The foregoing description describes only some exemplary implementationsof the described techniques. Other implementations are available. Forexample, the particular naming of the components, capitalization ofterms, the attributes, data structures, or any other programming orstructural aspect is not mandatory or significant, and the mechanismsthat implement the invention or its features may have different names,formats, or protocols. Further, the system may be implemented via acombination of hardware and software, as described, or entirely inhardware elements. Also, the particular division of functionalitybetween the various system components described herein is merelyexemplary, and not mandatory; functions performed by a single systemcomponent may instead be performed by multiple components, and functionsperformed by multiple components may instead performed by a singlecomponent.

The words “example” or “exemplary” are used herein to mean serving as anexample, instance, or illustration. Any aspect or design describedherein as “example” or “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed aspreferred or advantageous over other aspects or designs. Rather, use ofthe words “example” or “exemplary” is intended to present concepts in aconcrete fashion. As used in this application, the term “or” is intendedto mean an inclusive “or” rather than an exclusive “or”. That is, unlessspecified otherwise, or clear from context, “X includes A or B” isintended to mean any of the natural inclusive permutations. That is, ifX includes A; X includes B; or X includes both A and B, then “X includesA or B” is satisfied under any of the foregoing instances. In addition,the articles “a” and “an” as used in this application and the appendedclaims should generally be construed to mean “one or more” unlessspecified otherwise or clear from context to be directed to a singularform. Moreover, use of the term “an embodiment” or “one embodiment” or“an implementation” or “one implementation” throughout is not intendedto mean the same embodiment or implementation unless described as such.

The implementations of the computer devices (e.g., clients and servers)described herein can be realized in hardware, software, or anycombination thereof. The hardware can include, for example, computers,intellectual property (IP) cores, application-specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), programmable logic arrays, optical processors,programmable logic controllers, microcode, microcontrollers, servers,microprocessors, digital signal processors or any other suitablecircuit. In the claims, the term “processor” should be understood asencompassing any of the foregoing hardware, either singly or incombination. The terms “signal” and “data” are used interchangeably.Further, portions of each of the clients and each of the serversdescribed herein do not necessarily have to be implemented in the samemanner.

Operations that are described as being performed by a single processor,computer, or device can be distributed across a number of differentprocessors, computers or devices. Similarly, operations that aredescribed as being performed by different processors, computers, ordevices can, in some cases, be performed by a single processor, computeror device.

Although features may be described above or claimed as acting in certaincombinations, one or more features of a combination can in some cases beexcised from the combination, and the combination may be directed to asub-combination or variation of a sub-combination.

The systems described herein, such as client computers and servercomputers, can be implemented using general purpose computers/processorswith a computer program that, when executed, carries out any of therespective methods, algorithms and/or instructions described herein. Inaddition or alternatively, for example, special purposecomputers/processors can be utilized which can contain specializedhardware for carrying out any of the methods, algorithms, orinstructions described herein.

Some portions of above description include disclosure presented in termsof algorithms and symbolic representations of operations on information.These algorithmic descriptions and representations are the means used bythose skilled in the data processing arts to most effectively convey thesubstance of their work to others skilled in the art. These operations,while described functionally or logically, are understood to beimplemented by computer programs. Furthermore, it has also provenconvenient at times, to refer to these arrangements of operations asmodules or by functional names, without loss of generality. It should benoted that the process steps and instructions of implementations of thisdisclosure could be embodied in software, firmware or hardware, and whenembodied in software, could be downloaded to reside on and be operatedfrom different platforms used by real time network operating systems.

Unless specifically stated otherwise as apparent from the abovediscussion, it is appreciated that throughout the description,discussions utilizing terms such as “processing” or “computing” or“calculating” or “determining” or “displaying” or the like, refer to theaction and processes of a computer system, or similar electroniccomputing device, that manipulates and transforms data represented asphysical (electronic) quantities within the computer system memories orregisters or other such information storage, transmission or displaydevices.

At least one implementation of this disclosure relates to an apparatusfor performing the operations herein. This apparatus may be speciallyconstructed for the required purposes, or it may comprise ageneral-purpose computer selectively activated or reconfigured by acomputer program stored on a computer readable storage medium that canbe accessed by the computer.

All or a portion of the embodiments of the disclosure can take the formof a computer program product accessible from, for example, anon-transitory computer-usable or computer-readable medium. The computerprogram, when executed, can carry out any of the respective techniques,algorithms and/or instructions described herein. A non-transitorycomputer-usable or computer-readable medium can be any device that can,for example, tangibly contain, store, communicate, or transport theprogram for use by or in connection with any processor. Thenon-transitory medium can be, for example, any type of disk includingfloppy disks, optical disks, CD-ROMs, magnetic-optical disks, read-onlymemories (ROMs), random access memories (RAMs), EPROMs, EEPROMs,magnetic or optical cards, application specific integrated circuits(ASICs), or any type of media suitable for tangibly containing, storing,communicating, or transporting electronic instructions.

It is to be understood that the disclosure is not to be limited to thedisclosed embodiments but, on the contrary, is intended to cover variousmodifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit andscope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of providing dynamic interfaces todisplay prioritized electronic communications differently from otherelectronic communications, the method comprising: receiving, by acomputer system, via a communications network, a request from a clientdevice to access an account of electronic messages associated with theclient device, the computer system including one or more computerservers communicatively coupled to the client device via thecommunications network; accessing, by the computer system, a pluralityof electronic messages associated with the account of electronicmessages; identifying, by the computer system, from the plurality ofelectronic messages associated with the account of electronic messages,a first electronic message that belongs to a predefined category ofelectronic messages, the predefined category of electronic messagesincluding electronic messages eligible for prioritization by thecomputer system, each electronic message of the predefined categorygenerated for distribution to a plurality of accounts of electronicmessages selected in accordance with an account selection policyestablished by a corresponding content provider of the electronicmessage; and providing, by the computer system, a user interfaceincluding the plurality of electronic messages, the user interfacecausing the first electronic message to be displayed according to afirst set of display parameters defined by the computing system, thefirst set of display parameters including i) displaying a visualindicator indicating that the first electronic message belongs to thepredefined category of messages ii) representing the first electronicmessage in a first position of a display order and representing otherelectronic messages of the plurality of electronic messages subsequentto the first electronic message in the display order, iii) representingthe first electronic message in a visual format different from the otherelectronic messages of the plurality of electronic messages, or iv)representing the first electronic message in a dedicated area of theuser interface different than a message index area within which theother electronic messages of the plurality of electronic messages aredisplayed.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein representing the firstelectronic message in a first position of a display order andrepresenting other electronic messages of the plurality of electronicmessages subsequent to the first electronic message in the display orderincludes subjecting the other electronic messages of the plurality ofelectronic messages to a display order rule whereas the first electronicmessage is not subject to the display order rule.
 3. The method of claim2, wherein the display order rule is a chronological rule.
 4. The methodof claim 1, wherein the user interface includes a list view with thefirst electronic message represented by a prioritized list item and theother electronic messages of the plurality of electronic messagesrepresented by standard list items.
 5. The method of claim 4, whereinthe prioritized list item appears vertically above the standard listitems.
 6. The method of claim 4, wherein the user interface utilizes afirst graphical style for the prioritized list item and a secondgraphical style for the standard list items.
 7. The method of claim 1,wherein the account of electronic messages is an electronic mail ormessage account and the plurality of electronic messages includeelectronic mail messages or electronic messages.
 8. The method of claim1, further comprising identifying that the first electronic messagebelongs to the predefined category of electronic messages based oninformation identifying the content provider of the first electronicmessage.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying thatthe first electronic message belongs to the predefined category ofelectronic messages based on information in the first electronic messageindicative of the predefined category of electronic messages.
 10. Anelectronic system for providing dynamic interfaces to displayprioritized communications differently from other communications, theelectronic system comprising: at least one processor; and at least onememory including computer code instructions stored thereon, the computercode instructions, when executed, cause the at least one processor to:receive, via a communications network, a request from a client device toaccess an account of electronic messages associated with the clientdevice; access a plurality of electronic messages associated with theaccount of electronic messages; identify, from the plurality ofelectronic messages associated with the account of electronic messages,a first electronic message that belongs to a predefined category ofelectronic messages, the predefined category of electronic messagesincluding electronic messages eligible for prioritization by thecomputer system, each electronic message of the predefined categorygenerated for distribution to a plurality of accounts of electronicmessages selected in accordance with an account selection policyestablished by a corresponding content provider of the electronicmessage; and provide a user interface including the plurality ofelectronic messages, the user interface causing the first electronicmessage to be displayed according to a first set of display parametersdefined by the computing system, the first set of display parametersincluding i) displaying a visual indicator indicating that the firstelectronic message belongs to the predefined category of messages ii)representing the first electronic message in a first position of adisplay order and representing other electronic messages of theplurality of electronic messages subsequent to the first electronicmessage in the display order, iii) representing the first electronicmessage in a visual format different from the other electronic messagesof the plurality of electronic messages, or iv) representing the firstelectronic message in a dedicated area of the user interface differentthan a message index area within which the other electronic messages ofthe plurality of electronic messages are displayed.
 11. The electronicsystem of claim 10, wherein representing the first electronic message ina first position of a display order and representing other electronicmessages of the plurality of electronic messages subsequent to the firstelectronic message in the display order includes subjecting the otherelectronic messages of the plurality of electronic messages to a displayorder rule whereas the first electronic message is not subject to thedisplay order rule.
 12. The electronic system of claim 11, wherein thedisplay order rule is a chronological rule.
 13. The electronic system ofclaim 10, wherein the user interface includes a list view with the firstelectronic message represented by a prioritized list item and the otherelectronic messages of the plurality of electronic messages representedby standard list items.
 14. The electronic system of claim 13, whereinthe prioritized list item appears vertically above the standard listitems.
 15. The electronic system of claim 13, wherein the user interfaceutilizes a first graphical style for the prioritized list item and asecond graphical style for the standard list items.
 16. The electronicsystem of claim 10, wherein the account of electronic messages is anelectronic mail or message account and the plurality of electronicmessages include electronic mail messages or electronic messages. 17.The electronic system of claim 10, wherein the computer codeinstructions, when executed, further cause the at least one processor toidentify that the first electronic message belongs to the predefinedcategory of electronic messages based on information identifying thecontent provider of the first electronic message.
 18. The electronicsystem of claim 10, wherein the computer code instructions, whenexecuted, further cause the at least one processor to identify that thefirst electronic message belongs to the predefined category ofelectronic messages based on information in the first electronic messageindicative of the predefined category of electronic messages.
 19. Anon-transitory computer-readable medium with computer code instructionsstored thereon for providing dynamic electronic mail interfaces todisplay prioritized communications differently from othercommunications, the computer code instructions, when executed, cause oneor more processors to: receive, via a communications network, a requestfrom a client device to access an account of electronic messagesassociated with the client device; access a plurality of electronicmessages associated with the account of electronic messages; identify,from the plurality of electronic messages associated with the account ofelectronic messages, a first electronic message that belongs to apredefined category of electronic messages, the predefined category ofelectronic messages including electronic messages eligible forprioritization by the computer system, each electronic message of thepredefined category generated for distribution to a plurality ofaccounts of electronic messages selected in accordance with an accountselection policy established by a corresponding content provider of theelectronic message; and provide a user interface including the pluralityof electronic messages, the user interface causing the first electronicmessage to be displayed according to a first set of display parametersdefined by the computing system, the first set of display parametersincluding i) displaying a visual indicator indicating that the firstelectronic message belongs to the predefined category of messages ii)representing the first electronic message in a first position of adisplay order and representing other electronic messages of theplurality of electronic messages subsequent to the first electronicmessage in the display order, iii) representing the first electronicmessage in a visual format different from the other electronic messagesof the plurality of electronic messages, or iv) representing the firstelectronic message in a dedicated area of the user interface differentthan a message index area within which the other electronic messages ofthe plurality of electronic messages are displayed.
 20. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the accountof electronic messages is an electronic mail or message account and theplurality of electronic messages include electronic mail messages orelectronic messages.